Green is the new black for cotton

One of the highlights of London Fashion Week will be a celebration of designs that are fashionable and environmentally friendly. Tamsin Blanchard reports

'Welcome to the rubbish bin!" says Orsola de Castro as she opens the door to From Somewhere, her new shop in the heart of Notting Hill.

From the outside, it looks like any of the other fashionable boutiques that cluster along London's Westbourne Park Road. Look a little closer, however, and you will find that everything - from the shop fittings to the clothes - is recycled. Contrary to Orsola's welcome, this is no musty-smelling fashion scrapyard. We're talking recycling de luxe.

De Castro, who left her native Venice for London in 1982, aged 16, sources her fabrics from the finest textile mills Italy has to offer - the same factories that might supply designers such as Sonia Rykiel, Dolce & Gabbana or Azzedine Alaia.

Instead of ordering fabrics by the roll, de Castro sifts through the off-cuts of cashmere, silk and wool sent to her by previous arrangement from the factory floor, then pieces them together in her London studio to make her collections of sweet dresses, one-off skirts, and technicolor dream coats. In 2006, she points out, the UK clothing and textiles industry produced up to two million tonnes of waste, 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of waste water.

De Castro will be showing her latest collection for spring/summer 2008 at London Fashion Week this week, as part of the Estethica exhibition that she curates. This season, its third, 60 designers applied for one of 25 stands. They were selected on their ethical credentials - clothes made from sustainable, environmentally friendly materials, by machinists and cutters paid a fair wage - as well as on their design talents.

For the first time, Estethica has a sponsor in the form of Monsoon and Accessorize. Monsoon was the first high-street retailer to sell Fairtrade cotton in all of its stores, and both brands stock Fairtrade ranges. But while it started 35 years ago, selling hand-blocked printed and embroidered hand-loomed clothing, the sustainable fashion movement is fighting to move its image forward to something slicker and sexier.

Alongside stalwarts such as THTC (The Hemp Trading Company) and Junky Styling, the east London design duo celebrating 10 years of recycling and customisation this season, more conventional designer names will be supporting the cause.

Luella Bartley, Betty Jackson and Christian Lacroix have all designed T-shirts for the Environmental Justice Foundation's Pick Your Cotton Carefully campaign to help end abuses, such as child labour, linked to global cotton production.

"Cotton is something we all take for granted," says Bartley, "something we all probably wear every day without knowing the environmental damage and impact on poverty it has. We should all make an effort to be more conscious of where our cotton comes from."

People Tree, the Fairtrade fashion company, will make its London Fashion Week debut with a collection that Topshop would be proud of - which is perhaps not such a coincidence because the company has recently taken former Topshop supremo Jane Shepherdson on board as a consultant.

People Tree will be unveiling a small collection by the hot London designers Richard Nicoll and Bora Aksu, as well as New York's bright new star Thakoon.

These pieces will not compromise on design or style, but will be made in India, using hand-woven organic fabrics and natural dyes, by co-operative workers who are paid a living wage - the antithesis of the sweat shops of Bangladesh.

Another highlight will be Enamore. Jenny Ambrose, its Bath-based designer, who set up in business in 2004, is busy perfecting the art of hemp knickers and peace-silk corsets (peace silk is made without harming the silk worm, which is traditionally boiled alive in the production of silk). If you think hairy knickers are a step too far in the cause of saving the planet, take a look at Enamore's underwear and you will be surprised. Ambrose uses organic cotton lace, soya and a mix of hemp and Tencel to make pretty, luxurious lingerie.

"Our stuff is playful and kitsch. There is so much out there that is serious and banging on about the environment. I just want to make things that are fun, and happen to be made in the UK from these fantastic fabrics." Eco-friendly does not mean cheap. "A lot of tree-huggy people complain about the prices [which are about the same as Agent Provocateur]."

Enamore hemp knickers have done more to promote the cause of sustainable fashion than any company selling hemp sack dresses ever has. They are now a core product at the ethical fashion boutique Equa in north London, and they will go on sale in Paris this month when the French capital's first eco-boutique, Dupleks, opens.

Its owners, Rachel Rodriguez and Valerie Normand, will be at Estethica in search of brands that are both stylish and ethical. "All the designers we chose have a social and environmental approach to fashion," they say. Alongside Enamore, they will be selling the British labels Ciel and From Somewhere, as well as others from France, Belgium and America.

What is key is that while there are great designers with enough passion and conscience to create collections each season, there is an increasing market for clothes like these. Independent stores such as Dupleks and New York's eco-boutique Gominyc are springing up in cities across the globe.

Barneys in New York is setting the agenda with an emphasis on high-end ethical fashion, and while British department stores haven't quite caught on yet, they are sure to follow.

As Marks & Spencer has shown, customers are increasingly demanding to know how and where their clothes are made. And they are prepared to pay a premium for Fairtrade cotton vests. According to the Co-operative Bank, the UK's ethical consumerism rose by 11 per cent from 2004 to 2005, to £29.3 billion.

Green is not just the new black. It's big business; it is the future. And whether you are planning to wear an organic lace-trimmed corset or a dress made from cashmere swept from the factory floor, there is no turning back.

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'Green Is the New Black'
by Tamsin Blanchard (Hodder) is available for £12.99 + £1.25 p&p. To order, call Telegraph Books on 0870 428 4112 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk.